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Evan Wolfson outlines the path to the freedom to marry in PA and nationwide

Last month, Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson spoke at an event co-hosted by the Allegheny Bar Association and Women’s Law Project on the significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and Freedom to Marry’s Roadmap to Victory that will bring the country to national resolution.

Wolfson recognized the hard work and diligence that went into fighting against DOMA by creating “a tidal wave of messengers, of stories, of conversations, of victories that would create a climate around the court that would maximize our chances of winning," he said. "And we did."

"This is Pennsylvania’s moment," Wolfson said. "This is our time to commit to doing the work to ending the discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and our loved ones here in this state, in this commonwealth, in securing the freedom to marry right here in Pennsylvania.”

Wolfson continued by remarking on the impact of the case first on the individuals affected by the discriminatory statute. He said, "People have now actually made plans to return home from the diaspora, from the exile they’ve been living."

He outlined the institutional changes brought about as a result of the court’s decision which "turned the federal government from the one number one discriminator to now putting its moral and - indeed - its legal weight on the side of our families, on the side of the constitution, on the side of the freedom to marry in every state."

"People in Pennsylvania should not have to go to New York or Iowa or California or South Africa or Spain in order to have what we all deserve in the place we call home." Wolfson said as an acknowledgement of the still unfinished project of securing marriage for couples everywhere.

Wolfson also spoke to the future, laying out the end game for the campaign to win marriage nationwide. He said, "When the next case gets the Supreme Court - in a matter of years, not decades - we need to have done everything to ensure that we have won a critical mass of states and a critical mass of public opinion that together creates the climate to encourage and compel the Supreme Court to bring the country to the right side of history."